The ability to assess the structural health of a structure is useful in various situations. By way of example, the ability to detect damage to surfaces of aircrafts and other moving platforms is useful to operators of such platforms. Similarly, the ability to assess the structural health of sections of bridges and other types of infrastructure is useful to civil engineers or other interested parties.
Sensing damage to complex or large surfaces in real-time is challenging for existing sensor systems. Existing sensor systems may be overly bulky, may add excessive weight to a structure, and may not be energy efficient. Further, it may be difficult to integrate existing sensor systems into complex or large structures. Improvements are therefore desired.